Countersteering 101...........
Motorcycles are NOT dangerous! Mistakes made by riders and drivers are potentially dangerous
On Road tutorial...........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=kTsKlVTftO8
"You will not be able to ride a motorcycle if you don't understand countersteering" What a load of clap trap
Safety Course Tutorial..........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=iLXE7vtrKZY
Firstly, I've not taken the time to watch all of these videos.
The Japanese police video doesn't show any counter steering. Don't get me wrong, counter steering is occuring to initiate any turn made. But you can't see it. What you can see is counter weighting - 'bike in / body out'.
The thing that really pissed me off about the 2nd video was the comment at the end, as you may gues from my comment above.
The video producers have attmepted to make themselves sound highly educated by their spiffy little drawings about gravity, centripetal & centrifugal force. What a waste of time. The video from head on is good. But you don't need to worry about gravity etc. What is relevant to gravity is balancing forces, to complete the turn. To INITIATE the turn, you have to unbalance the bike, destablilise it in a very controlled way.
I got the shits with the last two. Has this bloke never heard of editing? He may well have a very good idea, but do I really need to listen to his conversation with the other bloke or watch him stuff up a right hand turn because he can't talk and watch traffic at the same time?
Anyway. Counter steering is NATURAL on any form of bicycle. Motorised or not. Don't know about a unicycle, never even throught about it.
Counter steering is only to INITIATE a turn. But then again, that isn't exactly correct either.
After a turn is initiated, during the turn it becomes a matter of balancing the forces to maintain the radius of turn & lean angle.
Balance during a turn is only ever momentary, because of changes in the effective angle between the centre line of the bike, compression & extension of the suspension effecting rake and trail, changes in speed, changes due to bump steer etc etc etc. You need to continually alter the pressure through the handlebars, footpegs, seat and tank to maintain your line.
The reason why gravity is so 'irrelevant' is because it is a constant. It's not irrelevant in an absoute manner, it's just irrelevant in practical understanding.
Just start with the fact that a bicycle has rake and trail. It has a contact patch, which is not a point, it has 2 dimensions. For counter steering, you probably need to consider the mid line of the contacct patch, both longitudinal and lateral.
If there was zero rake and trail, the contact patch would include a pivot point. The drag of the tyre would be radially around that point. The smaller the tyre dimensions, the smaller the contact patch and the less drag created around the pivot.
Tyres and wheels are not infintisimally narrow. they have 3 dimensions. Firstly the lateral section. When the longitudinal angle changes (as with lean), the lateral midline of the contact patch will move left and right. If you look at a clock face, you could think of the tyre, when vertical, as having the midline of the contact patch at 6 o'clock. As the wheel & tyre lean to the right, the midline moves over towards 5 o'clock (my perspective is from behind the wheel) . Lean to the left and the midline of the contact patch rolls around towards 7 o'clock.
Now the longitudinal section. Due to rake and trail (castor angles) the midline of this contact patch moves towards the rear, as the tyre/wheel leans left or right. As the tyre wheel comes back to vertical, the longitudinal midline moves back to the position directly beneath the pivot of teh wheel (the axle).
The third dimension, plan (ywa?) needs to be looked at to combine the effect of leaning on the two other dimension. Counter steering is shifting the contact patch, by weight through the handlebars, so that the entire motor cycle starts to fall in the desired direction. The pressure on the inside handlebar, moves the contact patch rearwards and to the side that the turn is desired. The bike will start to fall in that direction.
Counter steering can be done quickly, with a shove on the inside 'bar to create a sudden change of path. This is best accomplished with a simultaneous, sudden shutting of the throttle, to increase the rake and decrease the trail, as the bike rolls forward around it's pitch axis. ie compresses the front suspension. This is what you should be doing if you need to swerve.
Couunter steering can be done, slowly. Easy pressure to commence that perfect sweeper.
What happens after you initiate the turn is then subject to ALL of the changes in force effecting the motorcycle & rider that are occuring instantaneously and progressively.
These are Australian videos and pretty bloody good. Not perfect, but then very little is. At least they clearly understand editing! One gives a really good practice exercise for counter steering.
http://www.mccofnsw.org.au/a/332.html Counter weight is related to steering, as is counter steering. You should be using both. Counter weight is a much more deliberate technique.
Invest in yourself. Go an do an advanced course. One that deals with road craft. hw much moeny do you spend on your bike? On the bling and stuff that goes into it? How much do you invest in your own skill and technique?
Collisions hapen because people make mistakes. My basic principle in riding - on the road - has been to attempt to limit the number of mistakes I make and avoid being involved in someone else's mistake.
If everyone else followed all the rules, and were all competent, we wouldn't have anywhere near the number of coppers, firies, ambos, doctors, nurses, hospitals, panel beaters and spray painters, parts inbterpreters, solicitors, magistrates or insurance companies.
It's one thing to complain that we are invisible or that drviers are out to get us and another thing to realise that that is really a cop out and that it's up to ourselves to protect ourselves. Sorry if that gets up anyone's nose, but I reckon it's true.
